Baseball Faces Off with New Orleans for First Time

Mar 27, 2014

CORPUS CHRISTI – The Texas A&M – Corpus Christi baseball team (12-15, 3-3 Southland) will continue its five-game road set, as it heads to Louisiana for its first Southland Conference match up with New Orleans (8-14, 1-5), starting on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Matt Danton (4-2, 3.35 ERA) will get the start in game one, coming into this game going at least seven innings in the last five games, giving up three or less in four of the five. He also comes off an outing against Southeastern Louisiana where he struck out a career-high nine batters.

Danton will be going up against junior Alex Smith who comes into the game with an earned run average of 4.98, as the righty has a 1-3 record so far this year. He has made six starts this season, while also making three appearances out of the bullpen.

On Saturday, the Islanders will send lefty Trevor Belicek (0-4, 4.63) to the mound looking for his first win of the season. The junior has picked up back-to-back no decisions after going seven and 2/3 innings while giving up four runs, followed up with a six inning performance, allowing just one run against Southeastern Louisiana.

He will face off against the only Privateer on the pitching staff who has seen all of work come in starts, as Nick Halliday will start game two. The junior righty has tallied a 2-1 record with a 2.38 ERA.

The series finale will feature two freshman pitchers who have had strong starts to their collegiate careers. For the Islanders, it will be righty Devin Skapura who has the best ERA out of starters who have made at least three starts at 2.91. He has also had good command of the zone, as he has just seven walks in 34 innings pitched.

His opponent, lefty Hunter Medine still has yet to give up an earned run this season in his 18 and 2/3 innings pitched. This will be just his third start of the year, however, he has made eight appearances out of the bullpen.

Offensively the Islanders feature a 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup, as the leadoff duo of Brandon Tierney and Jordan Lee feature the highest batting averages on the team, sitting at .318 and .313, respectively. The pair saw their batting average climb during the midweek game against UTSA, as each had a three-hit game. Tierney also leads the way in both slugging percentage (.424) and on-base percentage (.438).

The leading run producer for the Islanders is Kyle Danford, as he picked up a pair of RBIs against the Roadrunners on Tuesday to give him 20 on the year.

UNO also has a duo hitting at a very high average, as Randolph Hezekiah enters this weekend with a .355 batting average, while Samuel Capielano comes in hitting .348. Randolph is also hitting for power, as he has eight extra base hits, including three home runs, to give him a slugging percentage of .539 to go along with a team-high 19 RBIs. Capielano is riding a seven-game hit streak, and leads the team with 14 runs scored.

The Privateers enter this weekend winners of their last three midweek games despite picking up just one win in their first six Southland contests. The Islanders carry a hot streak into this series, as they have won five of their last seven games.

To keep up with the Islanders on the road, be sure to follow the team on Twitter and Instagram (@IslandersBSB) and like it on Facebook (Islanders Baseball). Fans can also tune into every game for live audio on GoIslanders.com.